Strib carries: Democrats' choice wins key Wisconsin Supreme Court race,By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press April 4, 2023. Excerpting:
MADISON, Wis. — A Democratic-backed Milwaukee judge won the high stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race Tuesday, ensuring liberals will take over majority control of the court for the first time in 15 years with the fate of the state's abortion ban on the line.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, 60, defeated former Justice Dan Kelly, who previously worked for Republicans and had support from the state's leading anti-abortion groups.
Why one candidate's age is news, whilel the other candidate's age, not so, is worth consideration.
Protasiewicz tried to downplay the importance of abortion as an issue in her victory, even though she and her allies, including an array of abortion rights groups including Planned Parenthood, made it the focus of much of her advertising and messaging to voters.
''It was really about saving our democracy, getting away from extremism and having a fair and impartial court where everybody gets a fair shot in the courtroom,'' Protasiewicz told The Associated Press after her win. ''That's what it was all about.''
So, indirectly calling Kelly an extremist, unfair and partial where getting a fair shot in court was questionable with Kelly. Not exactly a gracious winner? More -
The new court controlled 4-3 by liberals is expected to decide a pending lawsuit challenging the state's 1849 law banning abortion enacted a year after statehood. Protasiewicz said during the campaign that she supports abortion rights but stopped short of saying how she would rule on the lawsuit. She had called Kelly an ''extreme partisan'' who would vote to uphold the ban.
In addition to abortion, Protasiewicz's win is likely to impact the future of Republican-drawn legislative maps, voting rights and years of other GOP policies. It will also ensure that liberals will have the majority leading up to the 2024 presidential election and immediately after.
[...] Kelly is a former justice who has also performed work for Republicans and advised them on a plan to have fake GOP electors cast their ballots for Trump following the 2020 election even though Trump had lost.
Ahead of the vote, Protasiewicz called Kelly ''a true threat to our democracy'' because of his advising on the fake elector scheme.
Kelly had expressed opposition to abortion in the past, including in a 2012 blog post in which he said the Democratic Party and the National Organization for Women were committed to normalizing the taking of human life. He also had done legal work for Wisconsin Right to Life.
[...] Kelly was appointed to the state Supreme Court by then-Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, in 2016. He served four years before being defeated in 2020 on the same ballot as the Democratic presidential primary. Kelly was endorsed by Trump that year.Trump did not endorse this year. Protasiewicz's endorsements included Hillary Clinton.
Despite that, she won. Further -
Kelly tried [...] to make the campaign about Protasiewicz's record as a judge, arguing that she was soft on crime and accusing her of being ''bought and paid for'' by Democrats.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party gave Protasiewicz's campaign more than $8 million, leading her to promise to recuse herself from any case brought by the party.
Eight million is a lot of spending in a judicial election. As with age, spending on the Kelly candidacy - is it not news?
Kelly, in a statement after his loss, said Protasiewicz ''made her campaign about cynical appeals to political passions, serial lies, and a blatant disregard for judicial ethics and the integrity of the court.''
Not exactly a gracious loser? Coverage suggests grace was lacking the entire campaign. With much at stake, grace retreated to a secondary concern, all around?
Besides abortion, redistricting was at issue -
The state Supreme Court upheld Republican-drawn maps in 2022. Those maps, widely regarded as among the most gerrymandered in the country, have helped Republicans increase their hold on the state Legislature to near supermajority levels, even as Democrats have won statewide elections, including Tony Evers as governor in both 2018 and 2022 and Biden in 2020.
Protasiewicz will serve a 10-year term starting in August replacing retiring conservative Justice Pat Roggensack.
What is unclear in reporting, and not researched by Crabgrass, is the question of whether judicial review of the GOP redistricting had already reached the Wisconsin Supreme Court with a decision issued, or whether it is a currently litigated open question within lower courts. With eight million spent, the Crabgrass guess is it is wide open for a judicial final decision. Yet Republicans hold legislative majorities to where it could be a bounceback between branches, one drawing lines, the other handing back.
The question of redistricting balance between State legislatures and top State courts - whether there is a federal question favoring either branch - is before the U.S. Supreme Court this session. See, Ballotpedia, this link.
In effect, spending eight million on districting makes more sense than spending it on the abortion question; since districting can entrench a legislative balance either way, and the abortion question would hinge on that balance, either way.
FURTHER: DOJ link.